Here is Earth, Wind & Fire’s exuberant slice of funk Happy Feelin’ sampled, sped up and retooled for the dancefloor by Groove Armada.
There’s nothing to I See You Baby beyond the bass-heavy 4/4 beat interspersed with some squelches, and the repeated refrain of “I see you baby / Shakin’ that ass” and the warning: “Don’t touch me.”
But therein lies its appeal: simplicity. Once heard, it’s hard to get it out of your head.
The video could not be more simple either: an aerobics class of women in leotards who are, indeed, shaking their bottoms.
Unusually, the song was a hit twice: once upon its release in 1999 and again five years later when Groove Armada released a greatest hits compilation.
And although this is the only one I remember, it peaked at a modest No.17 first time around, and a slightly better No.11 on its re-release. It was given two remixes, one of them by Fatboy Slim, with a tastelessly voyeuristic video of a security man spying on women stripping off in a changing room, but the best of them a banging house version by Futureshock:
Although it’s the only song that springs to mind when I think of Groove Armada aka Tom Findlay and Andy Cato – memorably described by Wiki as “musician, producer, DJ and farmer” – they had several other hits, changing style with every one.
I See You Baby was preceded by the mellow trip-hop-flavoured At The River – sampling Patti Page’s 1957 song Old Cape Cod – and followed by the ragga-style electro anthem Superstylin’.
Later tunes incorporated heavy rock and hip-hop, like Madder and the Status Quo-sampling Purple Haze (no relation of the Hendrix classic), while Remember went down a pastoral folk route with the sampled vocals of Sandy Denny.
